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Vimala Vasan

ABU DHABI, March 18

THE Indian Institute of Bankers is in discussions with the Dubai-based International Educational Institute of the Varkey group under which the Indian institution could conduct exams and hand out diplomas in banking.

Mr Y. Radhakrishnan, President, Indian Institute of Bankers and Managing Director and Group Executive, Corporate Banking, State Bank of India, who is in Dubai in this connection, told Business Line that the tie-up, when finalised, would involve conducting exams, setting papers and benchmarking.

The infrastructure and other facilities will be provided by the Dubai-based institute. He expected the programme to get under way in three months following finalisation of the agreement.

Mr Radhakrishnan, who just concluded a visit to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where a seminar on `Frauds and internal controls' was organised by the Indian Institute of Bankers in co-operation with the Institution of Banks in Tanzania, said that an agreement with the Tanzanian institute is likely to be finalised shortly to provide Indian banking expertise in the areas of treasury and finance management, risk management, human resources development and organisational behaviour.

The accord would involve exchange of faculty on both sides, he said, adding that the seminar, which was also assisted by SEBI and RBI, had created a very positive impact that is expected to trigger strong co-operation between the two countries.

Mr Radhakrishnan highlighted the bright prospects for co-operation with emerging countries in Africa as most of these countries were looking at upgrading technology in the banking sector.

SBI was taking the lead in offering training programmes overseas in emerging countries he said, adding that once management contracts were taken up, the requirements of these countries would be assessed and training provided. The demand for training of such overseas personnel in the bank's training colleges had also gone up significantly, he said.

"These African countries have a good ally in India in the field of technology upgradation and this is the right time for us to enter into such arrangements with these states," he said.

Referring to SBI's dynamic move forward in the area of technology upgradation, Mr Radhakrishnan said that by end of this month, 1,000 ATMs would be installed all over the country and 60 per cent of them would be networked.

SBI was also tying up with the Indian Railways and airline companies to facilitate purchase of seasonal and suburban tickets based on a Singapore model and the project is expected to take off on March 30, he said.

After the success of Internet banking in the retail sector, SBI has since March 1, been working on implementation of online banking for the corporate sector, through individual need based agreements with corporates. "This will provide world class services for corporates with three levels of security. We also expect to implement the second phase of this programme in three to four months, involving back-end co-operation by the bank and the corporates, which will reduce interventions,'' he said.

Implementation of upgradation in treasury management and asset and liability management is also under way, and with regard to networking, SBI hopes to network 1,500 branches in 50 cities in nine months, he said.

Trade finance and core banking areas would be finalised shortly and implementation of video conferencing and electronic reconciliation of accounts have already begun, he added.

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